Ordering prints

I rarely print my photos but when I do I usually order a few prints for framing from Walgreens. The prints usually look different from what I'm seeing on the screen, they're definately darker. I'm thinking of ordering a photobook for the first time and wondering if there is something I need to do with the photos (like optimizing them for printing) before uploading?

Hmm I find the printing process a bit hit and miss, especially if you're going to change companies/services. I think overall, more pictures end up a bit on the dark side with big shadows rather than too bright.

It's probably worth pushing up your exposure or brightness in PP if you are concerned about it and the subjects have details that would be lost if too dark.

I've never ordered from Walgreens before but I do order from Costco. They have a option on there for them to "auto correct" your photos. You have to make sure it is not selected. Maybe Walgreens does a similar thing.

I've never ordered from Walgreens before but I do order from Costco. They have a option on there for them to "auto correct" your photos. You have to make sure it is not selected. Maybe Walgreens does a similar thing.

Getting prints to look like they do on screen is not a simple task. There are people in the world whose job consists solely of getting colors to print right.

Colors on screens vary so widely. You would need to calibrate your monitor with the printer you are using, print some test prints and keep tweaking it until you get the output you want. Not that easy to do at Costco or Walgreen's, obviously.

If you can bring them some kind of a reference (like a print you have done) they could try to match color and tone. Otherwise, you might have to keep tweaking until you get the result you want.

There is no guarantee that it will be the same next time you go there. So many variables.

If your monitor is calibrated and you download your specific Costco's printer profile online and use it in Photoshop, the screen will match the prints. California digital photo lab profiles

When I first started with Costco, I made a few prints and adjusted my monitor to match the prints. I tried the printer profile in Photoshop but its just too many extra steps and I prefer working in Lightroom. With my eyeball calibration, the prints are about a 95% match.

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